Daniel 12

Da 12:1-13.

CONCLUSION OF THE

VISION

(TENTH THROUGH

TWELFTH

CHAPTERS)

AND

EPILOGUE TO THE

BOOK.

Compare

Da 12:4, 13;

as

Da 12:6, 7

refer to

Da 7:25,

that is, to the time of Antichrist, so the subsequent

Da 12:8-12

treat of the time of Antiochus (compare

Da 12:11

with Da 11:31),

thus putting together in one summary view the two great periods of

distress. The political resurrection of the Jews under the Maccabees

is the starting-point of transition to the literal resurrection about

to follow the destruction of Antichrist by Christ's coming in glory.

The language passes here from the nearer to the more remote event, to

which alone it is fully applicable.

1. at that time--typically, towards the close of Antiochus' reign;

antitypically, the time when Antichrist is to be destroyed at Christ's

coming.

Michael--the guardian angel of Israel ("thy people"),

(Da 10:13).

The transactions on earth affecting God's people have their

correspondences in heaven, in the conflict between good and bad angels;

so at the last great contest on earth which shall decide the ascendency

of Christianity

(Re 12:7-10).

An archangel, not the Lord Jesus; for he is distinguished from "the

Lord" in

Jude 9.

there shall be--rather, "it shall be."

time of trouble, such as never was--partially applicable to the time

of Antiochus, who was the first subverter of the Jews' religion, and

persecutor of its professors, which no other world power had done. Fully

applicable to the last times of Antichrist, and his persecutions of

Israel restored to Palestine. Satan will be allowed to exercise an

unhindered, unparalleled energy

(Isa 26:20, 21;

Jer 30:7;

Mt 24:21;

compare

Da 8:24, 25; 11:36).

thy people shall be delivered--

(Ro 11:26).

The same deliverance of Israel as in

Zec 13:8, 9,

"the third part . . . brought through the fire

. . . refined as silver." The remnant in Israel spared, as

not having joined in the Antichristian blasphemy

(Re 14:9, 10);

not to be confounded with those who have confessed Christ before His

coming, "the remnant according to the election of grace"

(Ro 11:5),

part of the Church of the first-born who will share His millennial

reign in glorified bodies; the spared remnant

(Isa 10:21)

will only know the Lord Jesus when they see Him, and when the spirit of

grace and supplication is poured out on them [TREGELLES].

written in the book--namely, of God's secret purpose, as destined for

deliverance

(Ps 56:8; 69:28;

Lu 10:20;

Re 20:15; 21:27).

Metaphor from a muster-roll of citizens

(Ne 7:5).

2. many . . . that sleep--"many from among the

sleepers . . . these shall be unto everlasting life;

but those (the rest of the sleepers who do not awake at this

time) shall be unto shame" [TREGELLES]. Not the

general resurrection, but that of those who share in the first

resurrection; the rest of the dead being not to rise till the end of

the thousand years

(Re 20:3, 5, 6;

compare

1Co 15:23;

1Th 4:16).

Israel's national resurrection, and the first resurrection of the elect

Church, are similarly connected with the Lord's coming forth out of His

place to punish the earth in

Isa 26:19, 21; 27:6.

Compare

Isa 25:6-9.

The Jewish commentators support TREGELLES. AUBERLEN thinks the sole purpose for which the

resurrection is introduced in this verse is an incitement to faithful

perseverance in the persecutions of Antiochus; and that there is no

chronological connection between the time of trouble in

Da 12:1

and the resurrection in

Da 12:2;

whence the phrase, "at that time," twice occurs in

Da 12:1,

but no fixing of time in

Da 12:2, 3;

2 Maccabees 7:9, 14, 23, shows the fruit of this prophecy in

animating the Maccabean mother and her sons to brave death, while

confessing the resurrection in words like those here. Compare

Heb 11:35.

NEWTON'S view that "many" means all, is not

so probable; for

Ro 5:15, 19,

which he quotes, is not in point, since the Greek is "the many,"

that is, all, but there is no article in the Hebrew here. Here only

in the Old Testament is "everlasting life" mentioned.

3. wise--

(Pr 11:30).

Answering to "they that understand"

(Da 11:33, 35),

the same Hebrew, Maskilim; Israelites who, though in Jerusalem

when wickedness is coming to a head, are found intelligent witnesses

against it. As then they appeared worn out with persecutions

(typically, of Antiochus; antitypically, of Antichrist); so now

in the resurrection they "shine as the brightness of the firmament."

The design of past afflictions here appears "to make them white"

(Mt 13:43;

Re 7:9, 14).

turn . . . to righteousness--literally, "justify," that is, convert

many to justification through Christ

(Jas 5:20).

stars--

(1Co 15:41, 42).

4. shut up . . . seal the book--John, on the contrary,

is told

(Re 22:10)

not to seal his visions. Daniel's prophecy refers to a distant

time, and is therefore obscure for the immediate future, whereas John's

was to be speedily fulfilled

(Re 1:1, 3; 22:6).

Israel, to whom Daniel prophesied after the captivity, with

premature zeal sought after signs of the predicted period: Daniel's

prophecy was designed to restrain this. The Gentile Church, on

the contrary, for whom John wrote, needs to be impressed with the

shortness of the period, as it is, owing to its Gentile origin, apt to

conform to the world, and to forget the coming of the Lord (compare

Mt 25:13, 19;

Mr 13:32-37;

2Pe 3:8, 12;

Re 22:20).

run to and fro--not referring to the modern rapidity of locomotion,

as some think, nor to Christian missionaries going about to preach the

Gospel to the world at large

[BARNES], which the context scarcely

admits; but, whereas now but few care for this prophecy of God, "at the

time of the end," that is, near its fulfilment, "many shall run to and

fro," that is, scrutinize it, running through every page. Compare

Hab 2:2

[CALVIN]: it is thereby that "the knowledge

(namely, of God's purposes as revealed in prophecy) shall be

increased." This is probably being now fulfilled.

5. A vision of two other angels, one on one side of the Hiddekel or

Tigris, the other on the other side, implying that on all sides angels

attend to execute God's commands. The angel addressing Daniel had been

over the river "from above"

(Da 12:6,

Margin).

6. one--namely, of the two

(Da 12:5).

man . . . in linen--who had spoken up to this point.

God impelled the angel to ask in order to waken us out of our torpor,

seeing that the very "angels desire to look into" the things affecting

man's redemption

(1Pe 1:12),

as setting forth the glory of their Lord and ours

(Eph 3:10).

How long . . . to the end of these wonders--This

question of the angel refers to the final dealings of God in general,

Antichrist's overthrow, and the resurrection. Daniel's question

(Da 12:8)

refers to the more immediate future of his nation [AUBERLEN].

7. held up . . . right . . . and . . . left hand--Usually the right

hand was held up in affirmation as an appeal to heaven to attest the

truth

(De 32:40;

Re 10:5, 6).

Here both hands are lifted up for the fuller confirmation.

time, times, and a half--(See on

Da 7:25).

NEWTON, referring this prophecy to the Eastern

apostasy, Mohammedanism, remarks that the same period of three and a

half years, or 1260 prophetic days, is assigned to it as the Western

apostasy of the little horn

(Da 7:25);

and so, says PRIDEAUX, Mohammed began to forge his

imposture, retiring to his cave, A.D. 606, the

very year that Phocas made the grant to the bishop of Rome, whence he

assumed the title, The Universal Pastor; Antichrist thus setting both

his feet on Christendom together, the one in the East, and the other in

the West. Three and a half is the time of the world power, in which the

earthly kingdoms rule over the heavenly [AUBERLEN]. "Three and a half" represents the idea of

spiritual trial; (besides this certain symbolical meaning,

there is doubtless an accurate chronological meaning, which is

as yet to us uncertain): it is half of "seven," the complete number, so

a semi-perfect state, one of probation. The holy city is trodden by the

Gentiles forty-two months

(Re 11:2),

so the exercise of the power of the beast

(Re 13:5).

The two witnesses preach in sackcloth 1260 days, and remained unburied

three days and a half: so the woman in the wilderness: also the

same for a "time, times, and a half"

(Re 11:3, 9, 11; 12:6, 14).

Forty-two connects the Church with Israel, whose haltings in the

wilderness were forty-two

(Nu 33:1-50).

The famine and drought on Israel in Elijah's days were for "three years

and six months"

(Lu 4:25;

Jas 5:17);

there same period as Antiochus' persecution: so the ministry of the Man

of Sorrows, which ceased in the midst of a week

(Da 9:27)

[WORDSWORTH, Apocalypse].

scatter . . . holy people--"accomplished" here answers

to "the consummation"

(Da 9:27),

namely, the "pouring out" of the last dregs of the curse on the

"desolated holy people." Israel's lowest humiliation (the utter

"scattering of her power") is the precursor of her exaltation, as it

leads her to seek her God and Messiah

(Mt 23:39).

8. understood not--Daniel "understood" the main features of the vision

as to Antiochus

(Da 10:1, 14),

but not as to the times.

1Pe 1:10-12

refers mainly to Daniel: for it is he who foretells "the sufferings of

Christ and the glory that should follow"; it is he who prophesies "not

unto himself, but unto us"; it is he who "searched what, or what manner

of time the Spirit of Christ in him did signify."

9. Daniel's desire of knowing more is thus deferred "till the time

of the end." John's Revelation in part reveals what here is veiled

(see on

Da 12:4;

Da 8:26).

10. There is no need of a fuller explanation as to the

time; for when the predictions so far given shall have come to

pass, the godly shall be "purified" by the foretold trials and shall

understand that the end is at hand; but the wicked shall not

understand, and so shall rush on to their own ruin

(Da 11:33-35)

[MAURER]. The "end" is primarily, of Antiochus'

persuasion; antitypically, the end of Antichrist's. It is the very

clearness in the main which renders necessary the obscurity. The

fulfilment of God's decree is not a mere arithmetical problem which the

profane may understand by arithmetical calculations, but a holy enigma

to stimulate to a faithful observance of God's ways, and to a diligent

study of the history of God's people [AUBERLEN].

To this Christ refers

(Mt 24:15),

"Whose readeth, let him understand."

11. from . . . sacrifice . . . taken way . . . abomination--

(Da 11:31).

As to this epoch, which probably is prophetically germinant and

manifold; the profanation of the temple by Antiochus (in the

month Ijar of the year 145 B.C., till the

restoration of the worship by Judas Maccabeus on the twenty-fifth day

of the ninth month [Chisleu] of 148 B.C.,

according to the Seleucid era, 1290 days; forty-five days more elapsed

before Antiochus' death in the month Shebat of 148 B.C., so ending the Jews' calamities [MAURER]); by pagan Rome, after Christ's death;

The "abomination" must reach its climax (see AUBERLEN'S translation, "summit,"

Da 9:27),

and the measure of iniquity be full, before Messiah comes.

thousand two hundred and ninety days--a month beyond the "time,

times, and a half"

(Da 12:7).

In

Da 12:12,

forty-five days more are added, in all 1335 days. TREGELLES thinks Jesus at His coming will deliver the

Jews. An interval elapses, during which their consciences are awakened

to repentance and faith in Him. A second interval elapses in which

Israel's outcasts are gathered, and then the united blessing takes

place. These stages are marked by the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days.

CUMMING thinks the 1260 years begin when Justinian

in A. D. 533 subjected the Eastern churches

to John II, bishop of Rome; ending in 1792, when the Code Napoleon was

established and the Pope was dishonored. 1290 reach to 1822, about the

time of the waning of the Turkish power, the successor to Greece in the

empire of the East. Forty-five years more end in 1867, the end of "the

times of the Gentiles." See

Le 26:24,

"seven times," that is, 7 X 360, or 2520 years: 652 B.C. is the date of Judah's captivity, beginning under

Manasseh; 2520 from this date end in 1868, thus nearly harmonizing with

the previous date, 1867. See on

Da 8:14.

The seventh millenary of the world [CLINTON]

begins in 1862. Seven years to 1869 (the date of the second advent)

constitute the reign of the personal Antichrist; in the last three and

a half, the period of final tribulation, Enoch (or else Moses) and

Elijah, the two witnesses, prophesy in sackcloth. This theory is very

dubious (compare

Mt 24:36;

Ac 1:7;

1Th 5:2;

2Pe 3:10);

still the event alone can tell whether the chronological coincidences

of such theories are fortuitous, or solid data on which to fix the

future times. HALES makes the periods 1260, 1290,

1335, begin with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and end with the

precursory dawn of the Reformation, the preaching of Wycliffe and

Huss.

13. rest--in the grave

(Job 3:17;

Isa 57:2).

He, like his people Israel, was to wait patiently and confidently for

the blessing till God's time. He "received not the promise," but had to

wait until the Christian elect saints should be brought in, at the

first resurrection, that he and the older Old Testament saints "without

us should not be made perfect"

(Heb 11:40).

stand--implying justification unto life, as opposed to condemnation

(Ps 1:5).

thy lot--image from the allotment of the earthly Canaan.

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